Ahhh, the NFL Draft. Always one of my favorite times of the year. For me, it marks the start of another season, and it’s always cool to see where my favorite college players go and how my team, the Kansas City Chiefs fare with their picks. So far, it’s been a mixed bag. Their first round pick Dwayne Bowe (LSU) was a long time coming. Would have loved it if Brady Quinn fell to them here, but WR has been a weak spot for years now and I think Bowe is a pretty good option. Of course, the Chiefs haven’t done so well lately with early round WRs so I just hope he breaks that trend. For the second round, the Chiefs went with defense in DT Turk McBride of Tennessee. Definitely a need area, but I think they could have done better. With their third round draft choice, they again went with a DT, this time Tank Tyler of NC State. Kind of a reach in my opinion, and I think the Chiefs would have done better addressing another need area, particularly offensive line or even corner back. All in all, it was a good, but far from great day. Hopefully they do better on day two.

As far as other prospects, just a few observations:

Calvin Johnson – Detroit Lions (#2, 1st Round). I’m mixed on this one. On the one hand, Calvin is obviously a stud, and I think he’s gonna be a great one, but I think the Lions have much more pressing needs than WR. I think Joe Thomas or Brady Quinn would have been a better pick for the Lions in the long run.

Adrian Peterson – Minnesota Vikings (#7, 1st Round). RB is my favorite position – my position in H.S. – with Barry Sanders my all-time favorite player. I think Adrian could possibly be on that level, as long as he stays injury-free, but I would rather have seen Adrian go somewhere else, maybe like Houston, where he would have been the feature back. Not a fan of the two-back system just because I like seeing one RB dominate the game a la Barry, Emmitt Smith, LT, Larry Johnson, etc., but I understand the reasoning behind it, so, for Minnesota, a good pick I think.

Brady Quinn – Cleveland Browns (#22, 1st Round). To me the most underrated guy in the first round. May not be a physical specimen like Russell or others, but he just possesses that ‘it’ factor that all the great QBs have. I think he could be a special one and Cleveland was really lucky to get both Quinn & OL Joe Thomas in the first round. Of course, if Cleveland has another horrible season and end up giving a high draft pick to Dallas next year, that might haunt them. For, now, great job Cleveland!

JaMarcus Russell – Oakland Raiders (#1 overall). Really no surprise here. Don’t really like the guy though. Sure, he’s a physical freak, but I just think he’s overrated. Might go to some Pro Bowls, but he’s no Hall of Famer.

Ted Ginn Jr. – Miami Dolphins (#9, 1st Round). Another guy I think is overrated. He’s basically a younger/faster version of Dante Hall. He’ll probably contribute immediately as a returner, but I don’t think he’ll ever be a great WR. #9 is way too high in my opinion and Miami made a huge mistake passing on Brady Quinn. Bad pick.

Marshawn Lynch – Buffalo Bills (#12, 1st Round). Bills needed a RB and I think they got a pretty good one. A bit high though. They probably could have traded down and still got him.

Amobi Okoye – Houston (#10, 1st Round). Wow! 19 years old. That’s unreal. With his youth, Okoye really has the potential to become something amazing, as long as long as he doesn’t let fame & fortune get to his head, which is also a risk with said youth.

Book-to-film adaptation news: Looks like Dreamworks is ready to start shooting the movie version of “The Ruins” written by author Scott B. Smith of “A Simple Plan”, who also wrote the script, and stars Jonathan Tucker (Pulse, Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

Gold Circle Films (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Slither, White Noise) is adapting short story “The New Daughter” from the “Nocturnes” collection by best-selling author John Connolly, probably best known for his supernatural-themed Charlie Parker series.If you haven’t heard yet, New Line Cinema is releasing “The Golden Compass” starring Nicole Kidman & Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) on December 7, 2007. The film is based on the first book in the great YA trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. Anyways, if you go to the website HERE, they have an interesting feature where you can ‘meet your daemon’. Basically, you answer 20 questions and then the feature creates the daemon that best matches your personality.

Apparently I’m ‘spontaneous, modest, solitary, shy & humble’, so my daemon is a Hare named ‘Valthera’, one of 2113 hare daemons. Not exactly accurate, but after the website determines your daemon, it gives you an option where you can either send your daemon for friends to verify its accuracy, or you can save it as is. Once saved, you’ll get an email and code where you can embed your daemon on your Myspace page or blog. You can also download it as wallpaper, an AIM icon or to your Ipod or PSP. Overall, pretty cool, so if you have the time, I’d check it out. Also, if you haven’t read His Dark Materials yet, then I highly suggest that you remedy that problem :).